这对夫妇的律师此前曾要求撤销此案，理由是他们作为外国领导人及其第一夫人享有豁免权。
The couple's attorneys have previously asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.
现年69岁的弗洛雷斯（Flores）的律师还辩称，她患有无法在监狱中得到有效治疗的疾病，因此应该允许她在纽约的一处住所内接受24小时监禁看守。
Lawyers for Flores, 69, have also argued that she has medical issues that cannot be treated effectively in jail, and that she could instead be allowed to live under 24-hour guard at a residence in New York.
另一方面，美国可能会辩称，自2019年声称马杜罗的连任存在欺诈以来，美国一直不承认马杜罗是委内瑞拉的合法领导人。
The United States, on the other hand, will likely argue it does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, and hasn't since 2019, when it said his re-election was fraudulent.
耶鲁大学法学院讲师、前美国联邦检察官玛格丽特·多诺万（Margaret Donovan）今年1月接受加拿大广播公司新闻网（CBC News）采访时表示：“我能看到美国司法部说服法官接受他们的立场，即他实际上并非真正的国家元首，也没有经过正当选举产生，我认为世界上大多数国家都会同意这一点。”
"I could see the Department of Justice convincing a judge of their position that he actually isn't a true head of state and he was not properly elected, and I think most nations in the world would agree with that," Margaret Donovan, a Yale Law School lecturer and former U.S. federal prosecutor, told CBC News in January.
尽管如此，多诺万认为，鉴于与美国自身领导层的一些相似之处，辩护是一个很自然的政治选择。
Still, the defence is a natural choice given some parallels with the U.S.'s own leadership, according to Donovan "Of course, we have a leader here in the United States … who is very keen on having immunity from criminal offences when you are the head of state," she said.
她说：“当然，我们在美国也有一位领导层……他非常热衷于在担任国家元首时享有刑事犯罪豁免权。”
Toward the end of the couple's first brief court appearance in January, where both Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty, Maduro's defence lawyer Barry J. Pollack said his client "is head of a sovereign state and entitled to the privilege" that the status ensures.
在今年1月这对夫妇首次简短的法庭出庭接近尾声时，马杜罗和弗洛雷斯均表示不认罪，马杜罗的辩护律师巴里·J·波拉克（Barry J. Pollack）表示，他的当事人“是一个主权国家的元首，有权享有”这种身份所确保的特权。本文参考了美联社的报道。
With files from The Associated Press